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Installing Ubuntu on Thinkpads
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Lenovo Thinkpads are well-suited for Linux. Although they work out-of-the-box, there are still many options that can be tuned.

Do not remove Windows

If it is already removed, re-install it first. Then install system software from Lenovo support or IBM support (older Thinkpads), especially all firmware updates. Keep Windows installed, otherwise no firmware updates are possible or very difficult.

Installing Ubuntu on a System with Windows (Dual-Boot)

Normally, Windows (Vista or later) is not intended to cover less than half the hard disk space. Here is how to do it:

  1. Shrink Windows partition
    1. Start Windows.

    2. Prepare drive C: for shrinking (so that it can be made smaller than 50% of the disk capacity)

      1. Set pagefile to zero.
      2. Disable System snapshots.
      3. Reboot Windows and defrag drive C:.
    3. Shrink C: using the Windows 7 tools (Control Panel, type partition in the search box) to a minimal size.
    4. Revert pagefile and snapshots.
  2. Decide what edition of Ubuntu to use: 32bit or 64bit. Advice: always use the latter if you have more than 2G of RAM. Otherwise choose the 32bit edition. In any case always use the latest version of Ubuntu.
  3. Install Ubuntu on the freed space and reboot to Ubuntu.

For XP and earlier versions of Windows, use gparted live CD to resize partitions.

Miscalleneous Tweaks

  1. Use less battery power(also useful for desktops, e.g. for silent cooling). My Thinkpad now is in the deep sleep state (C7) about 97% of the time, and runs longer with Ubuntu than with Windows.

    1. Check powersave potential on your device.

      1. Install Powertop (sudo apt-get install powertop).
      2. Run sudo powertop. Let powertop gather data for a while. Check sections Device Stats and Tunables. The former show you what hardware is using most power, the latter what you can do to tune your software.
    2. Install TLP (german).
    3. With TLP installed, run Powertop again and compare. Google for any remaining recommendations under Tunables.
    4. Install Thinkfan as (described on the wiki)[http://thinkwiki.de/thinkfan].

  2. For US keyboards (recommended for programming): Run sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration, select 105 key generic / english-US layout with EUR sign on ‘5’ key. use AltGr as modifier for foreign symbols (default).

  3. Read ubuntuguide.org how to set up the system with your desired user applications. Read the Ubuntu cheat sheet to learn some basics about your system.

  4. Consider replacing the Ubuntu unity application switcher by a version that does not group windows.

    1. Run sudo aptitude install compizconfig-settings-manager, followed by ccsm
    2. Go to Ubuntu Unity plugin and disable all Alt+Tab keybindings. Do not disable the plugin as a whole.
    3. Enable the Application Switcher plugin.
    4. Consider using the Grid plugin, which cleanly aligns windows using keyboard strokes.

  5. If you are working on the console a lot, consider tweaking Ubuntu console.

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Published

20 May 2012

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